Elections can be a complicated process, lasting for months, costing billions of dollars just so the voice of every American can be heard. But with the establishment of electronic voting for over 10% of America’s vote, in hopes to provide some convenience to the process, the voices of individuals have been silenced through lost votes hackable software and election riggings. One example of this is found in the documentary Hacking Democracy, Harri Hursti is able to easily hack into the Diebold voting machines, the most widely used electronic voting system, proving that the votes on the memory card can be changed undetectably. These machines also are at high risk for computer viruses that can modify collected voted. Anyone with access to these machines (aka the voting public) can inflict these changes and corrupt the system. These errors can only be remedied by changing the systems hardware to increase security.
To remedy this, I would propose a paper ballot or record to verify the data and votes collected by electronic voting machines, because we cannot deny that electronic voting is the way of the future with the continuous growth of the Digital age. These paper documents can be electronically audited, saving the state time and man power that is often wasted in these situations like in Florida in 2000. This electronic voting would require human supervision and some manual checks, but despite the cost to the state, these steps are vital to insure that every vote and voice is heard because that is the basis of democracy and what sets us apart from other nations. For how can we claim that the elections in places like Iraq or Kenya are invalid when votes in our own country are not counted? If democracy truly is the back-bone of Washington (which is sometimes debatable) the voting system of today must be made secure for the votes of tomorrow.
